Italian designer Giorgio Armani's announcement that he is teaming up with South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. to develop a line of high-end electronics underscores how top fashion houses are stretching the boundaries of the luxury-goods industry as they search out new products they can brand with their own imprint.
Under the new alliance, Mr. Armani will design electronics ranging from handsets to liquid crystal display televisions, manufactured by Samsung, and distribute them through his world-wide network of boutiques. Mr. Armani will unveil the alliance's first product -- a credit card-sized cell phone -- at his fashion show in Milan on Monday, the companies said in a joint-statement Sunday.
Mr. Armani, 73 years old, is the latest Italian designer to plunge into the cutthroat electronic goods industry. Fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has launched a gold-colored RAZR made by Motorola Inc., and Prada has designed a touch-screen cell phone for South Korea's LG Electronics, Inc.
However, Mr. Armani has been among the most aggressive of the fashion pack to extend his brand across new segments. In addition to fashion, the Armani empire now includes lines of chocolates, homewares, flowers, as well as an soon-to-be-opened hotel. Phones, Mr. Armani noted, are a logical next step for designers like himself.
"We make as much of a personal statement with the mobile phones that we carry or the televisions we have in our living rooms as we do with the shoes and bags we wear or the furnishings we chose to place in our homes," Mr. Armani said in the statement.
For Samsung, which lags behind rival cell-phone makers Motorola and Nokia Corp in sales, partnering with a fashion designer is seen as a means to distinguish its wares in an increasingly crowded cellphone market.
The companies did not say how much the phones would cost or which carrier would provide service for the phones. Giorgio Armani boutiques will begin carrying the cell phone in "major European markets" in November, the fashion house said in the statement, adding that it planned to distribute the phone outside of Europe next year.
Mr. Armani will also unveil a Samsung-produced LCD television as part of his home interiors line, Armani/Casa, in January
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Estimate for Deporting Illegal Immigrants: $94 Billion
“Stop the madness! DEPORT,” one of many like-minded comments in a previous post on illegal immigration, is an opinion that has always lacked a price tag. Another figure — the estimated 12 million foreigners in the United States right now without permission — hinted that it would not be cheap. And others doubted whether it was even possible.
So it fell to Senator Susan M. Collins, Republican of Maine, to try popping the question on Thursday.
During a hearing with Julie L. Myers, chief of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, she asked, “Could you give us some idea of what the cost of trying to locate, detain and deport all of the 12 million people who are here illegally would be?”
Lo and behold, an answer shot back with ease: “Our agency has estimated that it would cost at least $94 billion.”
She emphasized that it was a “very rough” estimate, not taking into account the likely deterrent effects of a nationwide hunt for evey illegal immigrant. Many may choose to return home on their own and avoid the average month-long stay in a holding cell.
In fact, detaining the illegal immigrants would be one of the most significant costs of the round-up, according to a spokesman for the agency who did the math for CNN:
He said the amount was calculated by multiplying the estimated 12 million people by the average cost of detaining people for a day: $97. That was multiplied by the average length of detention: 32 days.
ICE officials also considered transportation costs, which average $1,000 per person.
But that amount can vary widely, the spokesman said. Some deportees are simply driven by bus across the border, while others must take charter planes to distant countries, he said.
Finally, the department looked at personnel costs, bringing the total to roughly $94 billion.
With the budget deficit standing at $205 billion for the fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the $94 billion would require Congress to go deeper into the red or deeply cut the budgets of other programs.
In any event, pack this factoid away in the immigration debate folder of your brain. You’ll probably be hearing it again in the future
So it fell to Senator Susan M. Collins, Republican of Maine, to try popping the question on Thursday.
During a hearing with Julie L. Myers, chief of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, she asked, “Could you give us some idea of what the cost of trying to locate, detain and deport all of the 12 million people who are here illegally would be?”
Lo and behold, an answer shot back with ease: “Our agency has estimated that it would cost at least $94 billion.”
She emphasized that it was a “very rough” estimate, not taking into account the likely deterrent effects of a nationwide hunt for evey illegal immigrant. Many may choose to return home on their own and avoid the average month-long stay in a holding cell.
In fact, detaining the illegal immigrants would be one of the most significant costs of the round-up, according to a spokesman for the agency who did the math for CNN:
He said the amount was calculated by multiplying the estimated 12 million people by the average cost of detaining people for a day: $97. That was multiplied by the average length of detention: 32 days.
ICE officials also considered transportation costs, which average $1,000 per person.
But that amount can vary widely, the spokesman said. Some deportees are simply driven by bus across the border, while others must take charter planes to distant countries, he said.
Finally, the department looked at personnel costs, bringing the total to roughly $94 billion.
With the budget deficit standing at $205 billion for the fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the $94 billion would require Congress to go deeper into the red or deeply cut the budgets of other programs.
In any event, pack this factoid away in the immigration debate folder of your brain. You’ll probably be hearing it again in the future
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Protect Your Credit Score
Forget winning Mom and Dad's approval -- winning a bank's good opinion is becoming a twentysomething's true challenge.
The same credit woes that are contributing to stock-market volatility and problems in the housing market are making it tougher for borrowers of all kinds to get credit -- from credit cards to auto loans.
USAA Federal Savings Bank, for example, recently raised credit-score cutoffs slightly for auto loans, credit cards and personal loans. A Citigroup unit started charging higher auto-loan rates for borrowers with flawed credit. And banks are lowering credit limits for a small but growing number of cardholders with lots of debt or with big balances relative to their credit lines, says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com.
Twentysomethings with relatively short credit histories need to be especially vigilant about making the most of the limited information on their credit reports -- so they don't inadvertently limit their access to credit or raise the cost.
Timeliness is Tops
The first step to good credit, of course, is paying all your bills on time. Payment history accounts for 35% of a credit score, according to Fair Isaac, the company behind the FICO score commonly used by lenders.
Next up: Check your credit report. You can get a free report every 12 months at annualcreditreport.com. (It won't come with a FICO score unless you pay extra.)
The report can be a sobering document if you have a woeful payment history or carry a heavy debt load. Suzanne Hildebrand, a 25-year-old administrator at a nonprofit in Fresno, Calif., was "not so happily surprised" when she pulled her husband's credit report three months after the wedding. He had a history of late payments and some accounts that were sent to collections.
"My gut instinct was to close as many accounts as possible," Ms. Hildebrand says. But a little research taught her a valuable lesson: When it comes to bolstering a credit score, acting on instinct can create big problems.
Tips on Credit Triage
One thing you should know: The credit bureaus don't wipe old accounts off your record when they're closed or paid off, so any late payments or collections associated with an account will still be used to calculate a credit score.
Plus, you lose the benefit of a closed account's longevity. Length of credit history accounts for 15% of a score, according to Fair Isaac. Older accounts are generally better, so you want to be judicious about closing old accounts and opening new ones, two actions that lower the average age of your accounts.
Consolidating debt to one card can backfire, because it often ups your "utilization rate," a gauge of how much of your available credit you're using. That rate contributes 30% of the FICO score.
Two cards, each with a $10,000 limit and a $5,000 balance, are generally better than one card with a $10,000 limit and a $10,000 balance, says money coach and author Lynette Khalfani Cox. The utilization rate is only 50% in the first example, but it's a whopping 100% in the second, even though the amount owed is the same.
Some twentysomethings try to lower utilization rates by opening new accounts and spreading their debt across several cards. But try to apply for credit only when you need it.
One reason: New credit counts for 10% of a FICO score. People hungry to borrow tend to be bad risks, so Fair Isaac is watching for how many new accounts you have and how many recent requests for credit you've made. A request for credit stays on the report for two years, and counts as part of the FICO score for 12 months.
Fair Isaac offers a free booklet called "Understanding Your FICO Score" at MyFico.com. Another helpful guide is "What You Should Know About Credit History," available on HSBC North America Holdings' YourMoneyCounts.com site.
The same credit woes that are contributing to stock-market volatility and problems in the housing market are making it tougher for borrowers of all kinds to get credit -- from credit cards to auto loans.
USAA Federal Savings Bank, for example, recently raised credit-score cutoffs slightly for auto loans, credit cards and personal loans. A Citigroup unit started charging higher auto-loan rates for borrowers with flawed credit. And banks are lowering credit limits for a small but growing number of cardholders with lots of debt or with big balances relative to their credit lines, says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com.
Twentysomethings with relatively short credit histories need to be especially vigilant about making the most of the limited information on their credit reports -- so they don't inadvertently limit their access to credit or raise the cost.
Timeliness is Tops
The first step to good credit, of course, is paying all your bills on time. Payment history accounts for 35% of a credit score, according to Fair Isaac, the company behind the FICO score commonly used by lenders.
Next up: Check your credit report. You can get a free report every 12 months at annualcreditreport.com. (It won't come with a FICO score unless you pay extra.)
The report can be a sobering document if you have a woeful payment history or carry a heavy debt load. Suzanne Hildebrand, a 25-year-old administrator at a nonprofit in Fresno, Calif., was "not so happily surprised" when she pulled her husband's credit report three months after the wedding. He had a history of late payments and some accounts that were sent to collections.
"My gut instinct was to close as many accounts as possible," Ms. Hildebrand says. But a little research taught her a valuable lesson: When it comes to bolstering a credit score, acting on instinct can create big problems.
Tips on Credit Triage
One thing you should know: The credit bureaus don't wipe old accounts off your record when they're closed or paid off, so any late payments or collections associated with an account will still be used to calculate a credit score.
Plus, you lose the benefit of a closed account's longevity. Length of credit history accounts for 15% of a score, according to Fair Isaac. Older accounts are generally better, so you want to be judicious about closing old accounts and opening new ones, two actions that lower the average age of your accounts.
Consolidating debt to one card can backfire, because it often ups your "utilization rate," a gauge of how much of your available credit you're using. That rate contributes 30% of the FICO score.
Two cards, each with a $10,000 limit and a $5,000 balance, are generally better than one card with a $10,000 limit and a $10,000 balance, says money coach and author Lynette Khalfani Cox. The utilization rate is only 50% in the first example, but it's a whopping 100% in the second, even though the amount owed is the same.
Some twentysomethings try to lower utilization rates by opening new accounts and spreading their debt across several cards. But try to apply for credit only when you need it.
One reason: New credit counts for 10% of a FICO score. People hungry to borrow tend to be bad risks, so Fair Isaac is watching for how many new accounts you have and how many recent requests for credit you've made. A request for credit stays on the report for two years, and counts as part of the FICO score for 12 months.
Fair Isaac offers a free booklet called "Understanding Your FICO Score" at MyFico.com. Another helpful guide is "What You Should Know About Credit History," available on HSBC North America Holdings' YourMoneyCounts.com site.
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